


When the world caves in

by MarvelouslyCriminal



Category: Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Angst, Bucky Barnes Is a Good Bro, Dead May Parker (Spider-Man), Everyone Needs A Hug, Feels, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Illnesses, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Possible Character Death, Sad, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:40:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28436265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarvelouslyCriminal/pseuds/MarvelouslyCriminal
Summary: Bad things happen to the best people, and when they happen it can bring people closer together or tear them apart. No one expects it to be them or their loved ones, but when it is, it can break even the toughest people.Let me take you on a journey of heartache, sadness, hope and just feels...ew.No set update schedule, so don't hate me. Also, grammar and spelling? who's that? I try but one can only do so much, so please don't call me out on it :)
Kudos: 3





	When the world caves in

**Author's Note:**

> Well hello there... if you automatically thought General Kenobi I want to be your friend. 
> 
> If not, oh well but please enjoy anyway :)

3:42 AM. Peter can’t sleep. Not like this. He knew he had to tell Tony, but he’d been called into a meeting last minute and by the time it’d finished Peter had passed out from exhaustion on his bed. That was 7 hours ago. Now Peter was filled with an anxious energy and couldn’t seem to shut off his thoughts. After a while of trying to find a way to calm down, he decided the best thing to do would be to make a hot chocolate and read.As he made his way quietly to the kitchen, careful not to wake anyone in their room, he paused briefly at Tony’s door, debating whether or not he should go in and talk his father figure. He decided against it and trundled to the kitchen. He got out his favourite mug, a pale mid tone green with Jar Jar Bink’s face plastered on it, Clint had bought him it for his birthday, knowing full well Peter’s distaste for the character but it reminded his of his favourite things – family, Star Wars and summer. He carefully emptied a sachet of chocolate powder into the mug before mixing in the milk and putting it in the microwave to heat up. Getting it out of the microwave, he underestimated how hot the mug would be and dropped it. The mug shattered on the floor, making quite the sound. That was the last straw for him. The last 12 hours had been hell. He broke down. Crying on the kitchen floor trying to pick up the remnants of the mug with shaking hands, shallow breaths and panicked thoughts. He had no idea that anyone had entered the room, calling out his name, trying to calm him down until he felt a cold metallic hand on his shoulder, grounding him. “Hey Pete, it’s okay. Stark can buy another mug. Are you hurt?” not getting a response from peter the figure decided the next step would be to try and help him regain control of his breathing. “Peter,” he said moving Peter’s hand so that it was on his chest “Can you feel me breathing?” he got a small nod in response “Okay, that’s good. Can you try to breathe with me?” they stayed like this until Peter’s breathing had slowed down and he was able to respond to Bucky, who Peter now realised was the one talking. “Hey, kid, there we are… you wanna tell me what that was about?” he looked up at Bucky, taking in a deep breath and said in a small, shaky voice “I want to. I do but… I- I don’t know if I can say it…” he trailed off; the end barely audible. That concerned Bucky. Peter always was able to talk to him about, well anything. So, this was terrifying for him. Of course, they weren’t as close as Tony and the boy, but he was always the second point of call. “Okay, why don’t we sit somewhere a bit more comfortable than the floor and you can try. If you can’t say it, that’s okay, but I need to know that you're okay.” 

They made their way to the sofa, Bucky placing a blanket over the boy’s shoulders before the younger of the two started to speak. “I.. erm… okay, about a month ago? Remember when we fought those drones in Brooklyn?” Bucky nodded in confirmation, “Do you remember how out of breath I was?” Bucky looked confused but nodded. “At the time I said I’d just been winded but I wasn’t…” he didn’t like where this was going. “I mentioned it to Bruce after when he was checking my leg after the fall, so I how it felt like I was underwater and couldn’t breathe. How things that I could do with ease were now so tiring… he said it was probably nothing but that he’d order some tests. I went back later that week for the tests, by that point Tony had noticed something was off so he came with me.” Bucky didn’t know what was coming but he knew it wasn’t good. “About a week and a half later, I got a call from Bruce saying to come and see him as soon as I could. So I did. He said that something wasn’t right and he wanted to run some scans. We, erm, we got the results back today and my lungs.. they… my lungs” by now Peter was crying Bucky placed his hand on his shoulder once again before Peter whispered something, so softly, it was barely audible. “Cancer.” The word was so quiet, it was barely there but it ripped through them both. Both men had tears streaming down their faces, Bucky pulled him into a tight hug before Peer started chocking out a cough. Thinking back to the last month, the teen had been coughing a lot, he’d disregarded it as a winter cold but now knew that it was something much more serious. Before he could say anything Peter continued “I wanted to tell Mr Stark after the appointment but he was in a meeting and I didn’t want to disturb him. By the time he’d got back, I’d fallen asleep and then I woke up and now he’s asleep and I- I… Please don’t tell the others Bucky. I need to but I need to tell dad first and I just- I’m so scared.” Bucky nodded tears still pouring down his face “O-of course, Pete. Whatever you need. I- I’m here for you no matter what.” A muffled “Thank you.” Was heard as Peter curled up into Bucky. They stayed like that until morning.

As everyone filtered in that morning, it was clear that the two had had a rough night and left them alone. Bucky was the first to stir. He gently moved so as not to wake the younger. Ignoring everyone, he got a bottle of water and headed straight to the gym. Running always helped him process whatever he was thinking, and right now? He needed to process what he had learnt that night. 

Meanwhile, Peter woke up in a panic. There was instantly someone by his side trying to calm him down but all he could think or say was “Tony.” Before he knew it, someone had gone to get the mechanic an he was next to the teen. As he calmed down, he looked at Tony, teary eyed and said “I… we need to talk.” The rest of the team seemed to get the message and left the room, supposedly heading for the gym. Once sure they were out of hearing distance Peer whispered “I got the results back…” at first confused as to what results he meant. Trying to think of any major tests he might have had recently, it took a moment for him to remember that Bruce had been running some tests. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry Pete, I couldn’t get out of the meeting… how- how did it go?” the look on the teen’s face told him everything he needed to know. It wasn’t good. “C- cancer… my, um my lungs they-” he was cut off by Tony giving him the biggest hug he could. The pair sat on the sofa crying for what seemed like forever. Before Peter broke the quiet. “I… um, I told Bucky last night, he found me on the floor and I, um I’m sorry for not saying anything last night, I was just so- so tired and then you were asleep and I didn’t want to wake you up and then I dropped my hot chocolate and I-” he broke down again. This time Tony held him at arm’s length making sure that the boy was looking him in the eyes. “You did nothing wrong, Pete. You did nothing wrong, it’s not your fault. I’m going to help you through this.”

Down in the gym, the rest of the Avengers, sans Bruce who’d gone to his lab, found Bucky, who was no longer running but beside three broken punching bags setting up a fourth. It was clear to all of them that something was wrong, but not knowing how to handle Bucky when he was upset left it to Steve who began to approach Bucky “Hey Buck,” he started “Talk to me, what’s going on?” he looked at Steve, tears in his eyes, shaking his head he stammered “I- I can’t. He’s got to be the one to tell you, I promised him.” Confused the rest of the team asked who, “Peter. He’ll tell you when he’s ready. He needs to talk to Tony first though. I- I’m going to go check up on him, I’ll see you later.” He left, leaving the team more confused. “What the fuck is going on?” Clint said, Steve simply replied “I’ve got no idea, but let’s not push for answers. Something’s up and we can’t force them to tell us before they’re ready… Come on, pair up it’s time to spar.” 

Bucky entered the lounge, seeing the teen and the mechanic curled up on the sofa crying he asked softly “Can I join?” looking up from where they were, Peter nodded and Tony gave him an understanding look. After a few minutes of silence, Bucky broke it. “You’re going to have to tell the rest of them. It’s going to be hard, but if you don’t say something they’ll find out. I mean two of them are spies…” Peter nodded before saying in a croaky voice, “I know. I- I’ll tell them today. I just need some time. I don’t want them to treat me any differently…” Tony looked down at his protégé “I know, but we’ll be there with you every step of the way. And we’ll try not to change anything that doesn’t need to be, but there are going to have to be some changes” Peter looked down “I know, I just… I- I don’t want them to treat me like I’m made of glass.” 

They continued talking for about an hour until Peter finally sighed before saying “I want to get it over with now. They need to know. I just- how am I supposed to tell them? How do I- How do I do this?” Both men looked at the teen before Tony said, “If you need one of us to take over, just say and we’ll tell them, okay? But just tell them how you told us. Dragging it out will only make everyone more nervous and worried.” After Peter nodded in response, he asked F.R.I.D.A.Y to get the rest of the team in the lounge and to let Bruce know that Peter was about to tell everyone if he wanted to be there.

Down in the gym, the team were just finishing sparring, Clint versus Sam, Steve versus Natasha, Vision versus Wanda and Rhodey versus Scott, when F.R.I.D.A.Y called for them all to come to the lounge on the common floor. “I guess we’re going to find out now.” Shrugged Clint. A nervous energy filled the elevator as they made their way up to the common floor. No one dared to say anything, risking the anxiety in their voices to cause a greater panic. They exited the elevator to be met with the sight of Tony giving Peter a hug, while Bucky nervously paced the floor; with the sound of the opening elevator Peter broke the embrace with his mentor turned father figure “Hey guys, um… you might want t- to erm sit down…” the team looked at each other before making their way to the array of sofas and armchairs, just as everyone settled the elevators opened again and Bruce stepped out, a sad smile on his face as he sat down next to Natasha. “Okay… so I- I’ve some um bad… bad news,” Peter started looking at the concerned faces of his teammates “God, this is fucking difficult.” He was cut off by a couple of people saying “Language!” giving himself a moment to compose himself and re-gather his thoughts. “Yeah, sorry, um okay. Remember the fight in Brooklyn with the drones?” he paused, waited for some kind of confirmation. After seeing a few nods he continued “You probably don’t remember but I was really out of breath after it. I said it was nothing but mentioned it to Bruce because I’d noticed that doing normal things had been harder for a few weeks before that. He ran some tests and we did some scans. The results came in yesterday afternoon and I-” he took a deep breath wiping his eye of tears that had appeared as he told the story “I have cancer.” He whispered, not trusting his voice. The looks of his teammates varied from Clint who was heartbroken, Natasha whose normally stoic face had fallen, tears in her eyes. The rest if the team were silent, trying to understand how this could happen to Peter. Their Peter. At first no one moved, the quiet deafening them all as the implications of the statement bore down on them all. He was dying. Natasha was the first to move, enveloping the youngest member in a hug, whispering promises and affirmations to him, how they’d get though this and how she wasn’t going to let him do this by himself. Slowly the rest of the team made their way to him, letting him know that they would all be there for him. By the end, they were all crying. Steve was the first to re-gain his composure before asking Peter and Bruce the more medical questions: what type? How advanced? What’s the steps for treatment? Why wasn’t the super healing, well, healing him? They tried their best to answer what they could: it’s lung cancer, they’re not sure how advanced yet, but they should be getting some more results the next day which should help them come to a conclusion, Bruce was already working on a form of Chemotherapy that would hopefully help and wouldn’t be rejected by Peter’s spider DNA and the answer that broke everyone even more was why the advanced healing wasn’t working. “As far as we can tell, the advanced healing is actually making the cancer spread faster, it’s most likely because his body recognises that something is wrong so it’s focusing on that area, trying to regrow healthily, but the cells don’t have the correct information. It’s also possible that the radioactive substance from the bite caused it, again they’re both theories at the moment, but it’s highly likely. Think of it like this: cancer is a piece of gossip, in a normal setting, it would spread at a certain pace, but Peter’s advanced healing is like a massive high school, it spreads like wildfire because everyone wants to know what’s happening.” The team were lost, trying to wrap their minds around the fact that they might lose him, the silence deafening. It’s only broken a few minutes later by Bruce leaving to go and continue working on a treatment. Once he had left Peter spoke up, “Please don’t treat me any differently, I know somethings will change but please, I’m not going to break if you push me or anything like that… I might just need a nap after.” The team nodded before Steve stood up, breaking the tension in the room “Who wants pancakes?” almost everyone began shouting, claiming first dibs. This was what Peter wanted, no change, everything was basically the same.

After they’d eaten, he was hit with the realisation that he’d have to tell Ned and MJ, he quietly asked Tony if they could come over, of course the answer was yes, he had a feeling he’d be getting his way for a while, so with that he sent his friends a message.

[2 idiots + MJ]  
Spooder: Hey guys, can you come over to the tower today??? [11:23]  
GITC: OMG of course man I love it there! [11:24]  
MmotherfuckingJ: yeah sure, what time? [11:31]  
Spooder: how about in an hour idk [11:32]  
MmotherfuckingJ: yeah sure [11:33]  
GITC: yeah cool [11:33]

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed... it's the first time I've ever posted my work online, so like yeah. Don't be too harsh <3
> 
> xo E


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